what is "kennel cough"

[lute]

here i go with questions....

what is it? is it deadly? how contageos is it? how do they get it?

i've seen 2 dogs at the shelter the past few months with it. a golden retriever and a lab mix. the golden had it really bad. i'm worried about it spreading through the shelter.:( :confused: :( :confused:

[Glacier]

Kennel cough is basically a cold for dogs. It's an airborne virus. It's highly contagious. It's rarely deadly, only poses a lifethreatening risk to the very young and the very old. Some vets will put the dogs on anti-biotics, but that really only helps the owner not the dog! It runs it's course in about two weeks.

My dogs all got it this past March--15 of the 18. Every dog team for miles had it at some point this winter. It regularly goes through places with large groups of dogs--shelters, kennels, dog teams ect. It will spread through the shelter and there is little that can be done to stop it. Generally by the time a dog is coughing and showing symptoms, they aren't contagious anymore. The virus takes up to 10 days to start showing symptoms. If the shelter has a isolation unit with it's own air circulation system, it might be stoppable. Otherwise the other dogs can catch just from breathing! Cats are not affected by this virus.

If the dog is coughing alot and can't sleep, you can give them an over-the-counter human cough syrup, just make sure it has no other ingredients besides a cough supressant.

There is a vaccine for it, but like the human flu shot, it only catches certain strains and vaccinated dogs often still get kennel cough.

While the dog is coughing, they will be lethargic and seem depressed. Limit their exercise, make sure they keep drinking. If they stop drinking or spike a high fever get them to the vet. The cough will sound like they have something stuck in their throat and they may bring up some foamy yellow or white bile. Try to limit their contact with other dogs to prevent them from spreading the virus.

Kennel cough is a PITA, but rarely fatal. I don't bother vacinating for it. Often a dog who has had it before will become immune.

[Pam]

Originally posted by Glacier
Often a dog who has had it before will become immune.

Wow! That is good news! My two had it right after I brought Ripley home from the shelter. He didn't start coughing until about two days after he was here. Obviously he picked it up at the shelter. Of course Bella caught it right away and the two of them were hacking, hacking, hacking! The worst part of it was hearing them hack in the middle of the night and cleaning up the little foamy spit-ups all over the place that they both produced. I really don't want to ever go through that again. They really didn't seem sick other than the hacking so I guess that was a plus.

[stacwase]

Our kennel requires the vaccine before they will board a dog, so I have Jake and Max vaccinated annually.